A Cold For An Idiot
by natsuki chere
Summary: Hotsuma caught a cold and it's time for Shusei to take care of him.


**Disclaimer: ****Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru ****is not mine.**

**Pairing: Hotsuma x Shusei.**

**Synopsis: ****Hotsuma caught a cold and it's time for Shusei to take care of him.**

**Word count: 1390 words.**

* * *

><p>"A cold medicine for an idiot."<p>

Toko blinked a few times. It's not everyday she could hear Shusei used such a word for his partner.

"Hotsuma?" she asked while stirring a pot of porridge in front of her. "But he was so lively and jumpy last night."

"We had a practice after that and he tripped into a lake behind the mansion."

"And here I thought idiots can't get cold."

Shusei just smiled and continued his search in finding the right medicine for Hotsuma. It was another peaceful weekend in Twilight Mansion. They were free from any mission and where most of them spend their precious free time outside of the place, Hotsuma was forced to stay on his bed for his cold. Of course he had tried to poorly convince his partner that he was healthy before he successfully consumed by his headache and almost kissed the floor if it wasn't for Shusei to break his fall. And his continuous sneezing episode soon after that destroyed his last hope in claiming his healthy status. Shusei was making porridge for Hotsuma and added a few tablets of supplements into it to help his partner recover faster when a horror-stricken Toko came. She was afraid that Shusei's...'cooking' would only kill whichever poor soul who dared to eat it. In the end, she'd volunteered herself to make porridge for Hotsuma. Tsukumo then joined the two and was very generous to share some of his limited edition marshmellow to Shusei to be given to their sick friend. By the time Shusei arrived to Hotsuma's room, he heard his partner sneezed.

"I've told you that your cold is bad," Shusei said as he put down the tray on a table beside the bed.

Hotsuma –on his sick and weak state— glared and blew his nose onto a tissue, "Who the hell you think made me sick, huh?"

Shusei feigned hurt, "Why are you blaming me for your own clumsiness? I didn't push you into the lake nor did I make you jumped into the lake. You did it by your own choice."

"Because you cheated, you jerk! And it wasn't even a choice. You know there's a lake nearby, yet you didn't warn me before—"

The blonde sneezed and squeezed his eyes shut. His headache had intensified after his little outburst. Shusei rinsed the towel on Hotsuma's forehead and placed it back on the burning skin.

"Would the enemy tell you that during a battle?" Shusei asked with a poker face. "Besides, everyone in this mansion knows the existence of the lake."

"That's why you're my partner, idiot! You're supposed to be my eyes when I can't see!"

"Says the one who claims that he can kick my ass with his eyes closed."

"Shut up!"

"Hai, hai."

Shusei's smile annoyed the blonde and covered his head with the blanket. He hated it when his partner treated him like a five years old brat. Having this cold worn out his body. Silently, Hotsuma tried to solve the mysteriousness of his cold. How could he— the healthiest person in the mansion— easily submitted to a mere cold? He exercised regularly, he only ate snacks once a week and he even finished his vegetables (well, except for carrots. It tasted weird to him). Falling into a lake shouldn't make him this sick. If there's anyone that could be sick easily, it should be Shusei. That brunette never cared about his meal! And to be this weak was embarrassing; humiliating!

"Hey, don't sleep," Shusei called. "You have to eat a little and take the medicine."

The blonde didn't respond.

"Hotsuma?"

The blonde pretended to be asleep.

He could feel his partner moved closer and when the brunette removed the blanket from his head, a cold hand touched his neck to check on his temperature. Hotsuma flinched involuntarily with the touch.

Shusei sighed, "Guess I have to call Isuzu—"

Hotsuma snapped his eyes opened and almost jumped out of the bed, "Anything but that freak!"

Besides the bed, Shusei smirked triumphantly and gestured the sick blonde toward the porridge. Hotsuma sneezed a few times before he glared at both his partner and the porridge.

"The last time I ate your cooking I ended up having diarrhea," Hotsuma said bitterly.

"Toko made this one."

Hotsuma looked at the porridge again. When he was sure that the colour of it wasn't as suspicious as Shusei's especially made porridge, a sigh of relief escaped his lips. After winning (another) verbal fight with Shusei, Hotsuma proved to the brunette that he was capable of eating on his own and took a spoonful of it. A moment of silence filled the room as the sick Zweilt froze and his face turned green.

"What's wrong?" Shusei asked.

But Hotsuma didn't reply. His temperature heightened and Shusei swore that he saw Hotsuma's soul almost left his body. Officially, Toko had been listed in the blonde's list of world's worst cooks. No wonder she was never seen in the kitchen. No wonder Tsukumo was so into snacks and junk food. He must have eaten his sister's cooking before and traumatized until now. Yuki...he needed Yuki. Only that boy could understand his suffering right now!

"—suma."

The blonde stirred.

"Hotsuma."

He opened his eyes, blinking weakly to force his dizziness away.

"Hotsuma, can you hear me?" Shusei called worriedly.

"Yea...what happened?"

"You blacked out."

The blonde closed his eyes again, "Shit."

"Toko isn't going to be happy to know that you spilled her porridge."

"Well, I'm sorry that her cooking is as bad as yours."

A moment of silence later, Shusei spoke. "Here."

Something pressed on Hotsuma's lips. He opened his eyes to find that Shusei poked a colourful marshmellow into his mouth.

"Tsukumo wants you to have it. Eat it and then take your medicine. Then go to sleep."

_Maybe Tsukumo had already known that the porridge was inedible,_ Hotsumo mused while munching the marshmellow.

"Shusei," Hotsuma called after swallowing his medicine. "Can you...c-can stay with me until I'm totally asleep?"

The brunette made a poker face, "What are you? A brat?"

If it wasn't for his weak body, he'd have punched his partner with his super punch. "Don't be too cocky, you jerk! I'm just..." —the blonde created the fastest excuse he could manage— "I-I might throw up with this annoying dizzy. S-so...I need someone to be here so that I won't spoil my bedsheet. I don't want other people to know that I'm sick."

"Toko and Tsukumo already know that you're sick."

"Then call them and make sure that they won't spread a word about it!"

Truthfully, when he was sick, he tended to have dreams from his past and they scared him. With Shusei by his side, at least...at least it'd help him to know that the past would no longer harm him. Among the Zweilts, only Shusei knew about his past. And only Shusei managed to ease his anxiety and put him in a peaceful sleep. Or maybe, it's his cold that made him thought like that. He'd never know. But he wanted to keep it that way.

"With one condition," Shusei said with a smirk.

"Since when do you start asking for a reward?"

"You have to admit that I'm stronger than you."

"WHAT?"

"It's not that hard, isn't it?"

"There's no way I'm going to admit something that's not true to—"

"I'm leaving then—"

"Wait up, you idiot!"

Shusei knew that it's an easy winning from the start.

"You..." Hotsuma whispered bitterly. "...are _slightly_ stronger than me."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you," Shusei teased a little bit more.

"I said you're stronger than me! Satisfied?"

There's nothing sweeter than victory. But he couldn't celebrate it on the spot as the sick blonde collapsed for the second time. Guessed admitting a defeat took out his partner's energy a lot more than he thought. Putting Hotsuma in a more comfortable position under the blanket, Shusei stared at his partner. He'd definitely call Isuzu after this.

"Shusei..." Hotsuma mumbled in his unconscious state. "I'm going...to kick your sorry ass in our next training."

After poking the blonde to make sure that he's really unconscious, Shusei smiled in defeat. An idiot could after all, caught a cold.

"You can always try, partner. But you can never win against me."

~end~

* * *

><p><strong>Constructive comments are always welcome.<strong>


End file.
